Demon's Souls

[PrinceCaspian]

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0810/game081009e.shtml


This just sold the Ps3 to me. Kings Field was awesome, I really loved the game and this looks even better.

[Adios]

Looks good!

But is there any text on the game?

[Nic Xtreme]

There's some translation for the following somewhere, dunno where though! It's a starting point! Search "Demon's Souls Famitsu information" or something!

http://www.uppicweb.com/ia/z1k06.jpg

[PrinceCaspian]

Looks good!

But is there any text on the game?

I dunno.


All I know is it's the successor to King's Field. My favouritest Gothic Horror/ slow paced exploration FPS/ RPG game.

[Koroshiya_Keefu]

Looks quite tasty. I'll take some of that, with a side of thinly sliced chili in soy sauce.

[Creedy]

Be a bit cautious though, gameplay videos of it so far are as bad as the original unveiling of Too Human.
IE: bad frame rate, bad animation, bad hit detection.

Hopefully unlike Too Human this game will improve.

[PrinceCaspian]

Be a bit cautious though, gameplay videos of it so far are as bad as the original unveiling of Too Human.
IE: bad frame rate, bad animation, bad hit detection.

Hopefully unlike Too Human this game will improve.

Pfft Kings Field got slaughtered by critics for being bad everything, yet it really connected with me.

[Rosca]

Pfft Kings Field got slaughtered by critics for being bad everything, yet it really connected with me.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/15/tgs-08-hands-on-with-demons-souls-ps3/

Connect with the hands on then.

[Koroshiya_Keefu]

That hands on connected with my breaking heart.

[PrinceCaspian]

Sounds just as flawed as Kings Field IV then.


Which means, assuming they get the atmosphere right (and it sounds and looks like they have) then I shall be happy.

[oogi2000]

My Asian copy arrived today. The game is in full English, and so is a condensed leaflet of the manual. The actual manual is in Chinese.

Demon's Souls is unforgiving. Forget to block? Mistime a parry? You get a sword up your arse and a significant chunk of your life bar disappears. The whole message writing aspect at the moment is a double-edged sword. I've had some very helpful tips, saving my butt, but I've had the exact same amount of the conniving 'IT'S SAFE HERE' ones.

The visuals are appropriately medieval with some nice atmospheric views and designs on some of the enemies, especially the creatures. Had a small frame rate chug when I was going epileptic with the camera running away from the big mean knight who wanted to rape me.

After killing the first boss, the majority of me is enjoying the medieval atmosphere and challenge of the game, whilst the minority is loathing its unrelenting nature.

[oogi2000]

Plugged some more hours into Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls is online from game start-up. No installation option is available. The simplistic character editor is similar to Oblivion's slider-based system.

Three main bars exist: health, magic and stamina. Stamina is important. It controls your ability to attack, guard and run. If it drains completely, you will not be able to do these actions until it refills. This is akin to Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom's AP bar. Guarding reduces the refill rate significantly. Very early on the game, you will encounter enemies who can kill off your entire stamina and break your guard with one attack. So in summary, button mashing = death.

The message writing system is simplistic. [Select] brings up options to write and rate a message, and to rate a player. Writing involves filtering down menus. First, you select a pre-made message with a space for a noun, followed by the noun. For instance: [Select] > Write Message > **** is ahead > Treasure = Treasure is ahead.

Bloodstains appear in the game as markers for small 'clips' of player's actions before their demise. When activated, a 'phantom' player appears repeating said actions. It is funny seeing a batshit insane phantom running around before death lands.

I summoned another player who had left a summon request message. You can use a white stone item to banish the player back to the other realm if they piss you off. These appear as blue symbols on the ground. He synced up with myself (took a while, most probably from Hong Kong or something) and appeared next to my character. A simple floating health bar above his head showed me his status. No arrow pointers to show where he as positioned. We managed to fly through to the Boletaria level's second boss before we wiped. I gave him an A rating on the ol' alphabetical rating system. He gave me a C. :D:confused:

After the wipe I entered 'soul mode'. This basically meant my max HP was cut in half (but increased to three quarters through the 'Cling HP' Ring). This is where summon request message is important. There is only three main ways to returning to corporeal form: defeating a major demon; aiding a live person defeating a major demon; or using an item called the Stone of Ephemeral Eyes. The item is rare and expensive early on. Defeating a major demon is a case of wanting hard love. So that leaves writing an ad on the Demon's Souls personals to share the love. To leave a summon request, you use a blue stone item to write the message onto the ground.

Speaking of souls, from every creature you kill, you gain souls. Sometimes you find souls as items, which can be converted into 'currency' or used in magic/item creation. A soul counter onscreen shows how much you have collected. This is vital as you exist because of them. Souls control the currency and leveling of the game world. So do you buy that new sword, or improve a stat? Repair your gear or improve your endurance?

To level, you need to visit the local blind witch. You pay her 'souls' to level a specific stat. This increases your 'soul level' (character level). The cost increases each time a stat increases.

Meh, enough rambling, more later.

[Nic Xtreme]

Wow, this sounds so...different!

[Creedy]

Most likely I'll be importing this game in the forseeable future, watching players that actually know what they are doing has intrigued me. Watching players that have no idea what they are doing makes the game looking insanely crap.

[Lex]

it's probably brilliant though man, it is on the PS3 after all!

[oogi2000]

Progressed a far bit into the game today, knocking off two more bosses.

Adding to the methods of returning to corporeal form is the lovely option of player killing :D. This involves activating a black stone item from the inventory to transform into a 'black phantom'. Appearing suitably red and demonic-like to other player, you just have to knock him/her off to gain their 'soul'. These black phantoms can force their way into your game, but you can equip spells/items to reduce the chances of them connecting. Successfully defending off a black phantom results in a nice item drop.

All this player killing and helping affects your soul type of dark or light. It is just a basic karma meter: doing bad things leads to the dark side, and the reverse for light. Unique areas/pathways and gear exist for each side.

A simple gesture menu appears by holding down [X]. The Sixaxis motion sensor or the analog stick is used to select the appropriate gesture.

At the moment, I have access to five different worlds from a single hub called The Nexus. Here lies the typical blacksmith, deposit box, character leveller etc, but these are also scattered randomly throughout each world. Each world is split into several segments, with the end point containing a boss. Defeating it results in a portal point appearing, allowing people to warp previously completed areas. Respawning is done from the portal point. So die 3/4s of an hour in, you are back at the portal from which you emerged. With all enemies respawned, including that huge one that took 20 minutes to kill.

More on Demon's Souls visuals, I can say it is more than the sum of its parts. Taken individually, you can spot some slightly dodgy textures, a complete lack of shadows on the player character and more oddities. But when you come across a viewpoint across the level, viewing destruction, huge architecture and dragons raining down fire, you simply have to go far-king-hell.

The strange thing is there is little music in the game. At boss battles and cut scenes it appears, but otherwise nothing.

Oh, did I mention there is no pausing in the game at all. Even when in menus. So don't be surprised when equipping gear that a demon has raped you to a fraction of your life.

I think this game could do moderately well in the US/UK, if they push the dark fantasy aspect and online system. It fills a niche that neither the 360/PS3 has done successfully. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is too obscure and Korean for its own good (as much as I am a series fanboy, seriously, no block button?), Untold Legends is mediocrity defined, and Conan (the Nihilistic one) isn't even a goddamn RPG. Some tweaking needs to be done: streamline the inventory/equipment menu systems a bit; improve readability of the status screen; add a damn sell option at the blacksmith... I'm literally overflowing with shit I really need to offload. However, given Sony severely limited Japanese/Asian stocks of Demon's Souls for some unknown reason, resulting in sell-outs before release day, I wonder whether they will bother at all.

[Citizen Erased]

Progressed a far bit into the game today, knocking off two more bosses.

Adding to the methods of returning to corporeal form is the lovely option of player killing :D. This involves activating a black stone item from the inventory to transform into a 'black phantom'. Appearing suitably red and demonic-like to other player, you just have to knock him/her off to gain their 'soul'. These black phantoms can force their way into your game, but you can equip spells/items to reduce the chances of them connecting. Successfully defending off a black phantom results in a nice item drop.

All this player killing and helping affects your soul type of dark or light. It is just a basic karma meter: doing bad things leads to the dark side, and the reverse for light. Unique areas/pathways and gear exist for each side.

A simple gesture menu appears by holding down [X]. The Sixaxis motion sensor or the analog stick is used to select the appropriate gesture.

At the moment, I have access to five different worlds from a single hub called The Nexus. Here lies the typical blacksmith, deposit box, character leveller etc, but these are also scattered randomly throughout each world. Each world is split into several segments, with the end point containing a boss. Defeating it results in a portal point appearing, allowing people to warp previously completed areas. Respawning is done from the portal point. So die 3/4s of an hour in, you are back at the portal from which you emerged. With all enemies respawned, including that huge one that took 20 minutes to kill.

More on Demon's Souls visuals, I can say it is more than the sum of its parts. Taken individually, you can spot some slightly dodgy textures, a complete lack of shadows on the player character and more oddities. But when you come across a viewpoint across the level, viewing destruction, huge architecture and dragons raining down fire, you simply have to go far-king-hell.

The strange thing is there is little music in the game. At boss battles and cut scenes it appears, but otherwise nothing.

Oh, did I mention there is no pausing in the game at all. Even when in menus. So don't be surprised when equipping gear that a demon has raped you to a fraction of your life.

I think this game could do moderately well in the US/UK, if they push the dark fantasy aspect and online system. It fills a niche that neither the 360/PS3 has done successfully. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is too obscure and Korean for its own good (as much as I am a series fanboy, seriously, no block button?), Untold Legends is mediocrity defined, and Conan (the Nihilistic one) isn't even a goddamn RPG. Some tweaking needs to be done: streamline the inventory/equipment menu systems a bit; improve readability of the status screen; add a damn sell option at the blacksmith... I'm literally overflowing with shit I really need to offload. However, given Sony severely limited Japanese/Asian stocks of Demon's Souls for some unknown reason, resulting in sell-outs before release day, I wonder whether they will bother at all.

epic post

[Dust]

Wow, now there's a man who loves his souls; my hat to you my friend for such eloquent soliloquy.

[oogi2000]

Completed the game today with my level 70 Priest, Hellsing. Play time came out at 27:17:40, with plenty of hidden stuff still to hunt down. After the credits and what not, it boots you straight into NewGame+.

Ended up with a white soul tendency. Specific actions which shifted it to white included: killing the major demons; helping people resurrect; and killing black phantoms. Constant farming of areas for souls, constant player deaths whilst in soul mode (attributed to said farming), killing people whilst in black phantom mode and killing NPCs shifted it to black.

Towards the end, I began actively using the summoning/black phantom aspect of the game. Boy, does it make the game more enjoyable. Bosses become easier to handle, areas more fun to run through. However, you still get the prats that disconnect when a Black Phantom enters the world, or you enter theirs as a Black Phantom.

Demon's Souls plot was pretty second-fiddle to the grind. It involves a king releasing ancient evil yadda-yadda... HERE BE DEMONS KILL THEM!! That pretty much sums it up. The limited amount fed through conversation with them is borderline criminal. The interesting character and enemy designs shown in the game is ripe for possibilities... I just wished FROM Software beefed it up a bit.

I do not regret grabbing Demon's Souls one bit, even with its failings. It is the most use my PS3 has been given after Valkyria Chronicles. Plus I'm a sucker for dark fantasy.

[Nic Xtreme]

So...as long as the game has a decent community online, it isn't too difficult then? Is this an English copy from somewhere, or the JP version? I take it you can read Japanese?

EDIT: I just checked out some info/screens on King's Field IV on PS2...I totally want it! I think it's at my local cashies, too...I must get it!

[oogi2000]

So...as long as the game has a decent community online, it isn't too difficult then? Is this an English copy from somewhere, or the JP version? I take it you can read Japanese?

EDIT: I just checked out some info/screens on King's Field IV on PS2...I totally want it! I think it's at my local cashies, too...I must get it!

It isn't too difficult when solo. Just be prepared to die a fair bit and spending time to improve your character. Shit, it is a MMO! :eek::D

In all seriousness, my completion time is 12-15 hours shorter than what is mentioned on GameFaqs for a first playthrough. I only really used the online portion a fair bit towards the final quarter of the game, mainly for the end level bosses. You just get accustomed to the way things Demon's Souls throws at you, and you just learn to deal with them.

My copy is the Asian release containing English voices and text. I preordered it from Play-Asia. The Japanese release, whilst having the English voices, is entirely in Japanese text. I know that whilst Demon's Souls had a limited release in Japan, Sony really cut shipments to Asia. As in Play-Asia and Yes-Asia couldn't fulfill preorders cut.

[Creedy]

Eurogamer decided to review this game, the more I read about it the more I want to play it.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/demons-souls-review

[sheeps]

I might grab this. Something interesting for my unused PS3.

[Nic Xtreme]

Wow, that's really positive. I should have grabbed the copy I saw for cheapish ages back :(

[Roman Salute]

I finished this recently and loved every minute of it. I tried going trophy hunting in the new game+ but it's so much tougher I've had to put that aside for a bit. I'm so close to pure white soul tendency I just need to kill maybe one more black phantom NPC then after obtaining the friends ring I just need the foe ring & that'll be complete. I've got heaps of weapons that just need a chunk or two for the final upgrade & I'm making good progress with spells and miracles but it'll take 3 playthroughs to get all the trophies and that's a huge time investment.

Fantastic game though, I love the way every bit of armour you equip is visible on your character, love the combat system that rewards good timing, love the sound effects and dark atmosphere. I really hate the world tendency system but that's mostly due to my ****-ups. At the start of the game I had black and blue phantoms around a fair bit but after a while I didn't see any for ages. I began to wish a few BP's would invade but they never did. More incentive to play through again to get that redeye stone I suppose.

I rarely, if ever play my games online but I played this one online for the whole time, it was even the source of great frustration when I got signed-out and sent back to the title screen twice in a row but it's a very interesting system in any case. No 14 year olds calling you out on a sexual preference you've never even considered. No Wiley-sounding poms crapping on about bullshit or any lobbies where you'll wait for an hour seeing people come in and out but always being one short of the number required to start the game. It's all very quiet & understated.

This is probably the best thing I've ever imported for the ps3, it's very unfortunate there are so many stock shortages because I think that despite the games difficult nature there are plenty of people out there who'd really enjoy this.

[Adios]

So I made the right choice in buying a copy of the Asia English Language Version off ebay a couple of days ago?

Yay! :D

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Hey guys where is the best place to buy this, in English?

[Nic Xtreme]

This search on eBay brings up three different prices (cheapest - $98.99 with free post) over four different listings of the English language Asian version of the game...dunno why there are different prices but I'm not complaining! (http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=demon%27s+souls&_sacat=See-All-Categories)

Play-Asia has it backordered, and when it is eventually in stock it'll be $91.50 + post (http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-53jx-71-bp-49-en-84-j-70-36pw.html)

eBay looks to be your best bet atm!

[drzaius]

no local release on the horizon?

[Nic Xtreme]

no local release on the horizon?

There's been zero mention of it, though surely it will happen? I mean, they've got the bloody game in English already!

[Shin_Battousai]

I ordered with Play-Asia late last week but i paid on Monday and it was shipped on Wednesday. IIRC though, i checked the game's status after it shipped and it was still listed as backordered. So yeah, maybe you can actually still get it off them. You can also get it from here (http://www.japanvideogames.com/Demon-s-Souls-PS3-p/ps3j-demonsouls.htm) (in stock).

[Adios]

Anyone living in Melbourne and are interested in picking up this game can buy it locally at Dungeon Crawler for $120 in the city on the corner of Burke and Elizabeth St. It's the Asian copy with English voice work and text.

Not really cheap but at least you can buy it locally if you don't have a credit card / pay pal account.

[Citizen Erased]

Looks interesting, letst hope there is an pal release.

[borgster101]

Any word on a local release? Probably wont be officially announced until E3 .. and given there's a version that's already in English .. doesn't give you much reason to wait :p

[Adios]

I got it :)

It's a pretty fun game too. Only just finished up the first boss but oh boy did it take a while to get there. I kept on dying over and over again. Super difficult.

The combat is fun when you get the hang of it and a countering system is always a good thing in my books, the character creation toolset is scary and complex (try as you might but you won't be able to make an attractive looking female :p) and the atmosphere is perfect. The lack of music (there is music in the game, just not much) is very effective in making you feel lonely. Also, everything in the game wants to kill you. Everything.

The one aspect that's struck me most however is that it doesn't feel a Japanese developed game. The art style is different and the mechanics feel inspired by Western RPG's.

[borgster101]

I got it too! :D From Dungeon Crawl in Melbourne! WOO :)

Hong Kong version (all in English). First thing, I can't see why this game hasn't come out in US/EU/AU??! As Aidos said, whilst it's a Japanese game it feels so much like a western RPG!

And yes the game is freaking hard, but it's addicting, and it's completely fair .. no cheap deaths or anything, you simply weren't good enough. I really like the messages that people leave behind (and I've left a few myself) .. since these a pre messages and not typed, it's all in English so you can underdstand it. The game is ready to be released worldwide as it is now, so it's odd how it might not happen?!

If you want a challenge, then seriously consider this. I have already died several times, but each time you get better, and get that little bit further, there's the hesitation to rush back to where you last died so you can re-capture your souls, but this is a foolish decision as you'll end up defeated before you get there.

So now I got up to the .. (first major boss spoilers)

massive dragon. And my god! It's been a while since I've faced a boss in a videogame where I actually felt like there was no way I could beat it, it's freaking HUGE! And takes you down with one flame breath! It might sound cheap, but given the grand scale of this beast, it's "realistic".

This game is a pleasant suprise, I'm really enjoying it, the isolation, the feeling of achieving the impossible, the mesages and blood stains of many other players, giving you the feeling that many others have come and failed at various points before you (and they actually did!).

Great game, well worth looking into! :)

[borgster101]

***** this game is really tough!

Managed to beat the second boss, playing online .. I was a phantom along with another phantom and and an alive mage .. was able to learn the attack patterns of the boss much more with it being distracted by multiple attacks, defeated it, got massive souls - used them to upgrade my weapons and level up .. and then wait back to fight the boss solo.

Didn't defeat it, but I got closer! Only problem now is that I'm damn phantom again!!! ARGH!! It's going to be a bitch to beat the boss without having my full health potential, so I'll probably jump online again to beat the boss with some partners to thereby get even more souls and revive!

Interesting online component, it's freaking hard, but you just want to keep going that little bit more.

[Adios]

Is the second boss that huge knight?

I can't get anywhere close to beating him :(

[borgster101]

Is the second boss that huge knight?

I can't get anywhere close to beating him :(

Yeah that's the one. *****ing bastard he is! I probably took down like a bit more than a quarter of his health! Still got a ways to go .. playing online with people helps out though, to get you more used to the bosses patterns and as I mentioned before, you get lots of souls!

[klee123]

Grab a Bow and and around 200 arrows and get him on the second floor of the castle. Like right above the entrance of the area.


In fact, investing on a bow could help you so many times throughout the game. My advice is to get a compound Long bow and beef it up until you get the White Bow at the second level of the Shrine of Storms. Use it with the white arrows and you'll kick so much arse.

[borgster101]

****!!! I was soooo close this time. Basically the tactic I'm using is attack his feet/knees until it falls down and then deal out some decent damage. All the while, run like crazy to avoid its attacks (I'm using a knight) .. whilst carefully keeping an eye on stamina. It was working, but you need to be very precise, couple of wrong movements/judgements and you're in trouble!!

I have a bow, but I can't find arrows .. should I just gain losts of souls and buy them? I had like 8000 souls when the boss defeated me, because I kept regaining my sould after death and the souls kept adding on to it! :p

But now I'm all out of healing items, which will make it a bit too hard to go back and face the boss again! ARGH!

Maybe I should try the bow method?

[klee123]

You can buy arrows from the blacksmith, I think it's 20 souls each. You can buy cheaper arrows from the vendor at the shrine of storms(4-1), but getting past those skeletons can be a huge pain if your level isn't high enough.

[oogi2000]

Atlus is bringing Demon's Souls to the USA. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/atlus-bringing-demons-souls-to-us)

[Roman Salute]

I got my life back this morning when I got a pure bladestone on my 3rd try for that run so now I've got a 2nd platinum trophy and unlike the mega drive collection this one actually took a bit of effort to acquire. When I got it was such a relief I bust out with an 'ooooooh' like the oops pow surprise guy from chappelle.

I spent over 90 hours playing (which is more then I've ever done for any non shmup game) and around 10 of those were used up running along the same path, killing the same one enemy looking for pure bladestone. One night after trying for 4 hours straight and getting nothing I had a dream that I was in demons souls and I found something called 'true bladestone'. What a shit.

A really painful thing to look back on was on my 3rd run through the game I put the last world in pure black tendency then killed a primeval demon, black phantom npc & a boss in one go, bringing the world to pure white tendency. I decided to come back to it later to get the two weapons I needed from the pure white world 5 and tried getting some bladestone from world 4 and somewhere in doing that my world tendency reset so I had to do the same thing again on my 4th run.

I had a few black phantoms invade recently and one of those actually invaded as the last boss of world 3. It was a very exciting & long battle and I can't think of any other game that's had a multiplayer feature that lets one person be the boss in the single player game. That's a very unique and cool idea imo.

I got a bit of a Castlevania vibe from the game with the item collecting and some of the environments, enemies & the way your characters physical appearance changes when you equip something different (a little detail I loved in SOTN). It's great the way you can dress up as an NPC if you have their armour. I ran around with Yurts gloom stuff on for a lot of the game and looked downright evil :)

It's so nice to have the brit/scot/irish voices as well even though the monumental sounds like a spoiled brat from some tween show that probably involves horses, and ostrava sounds like he should be on that new Merlin show etc. Mephistopheles was great, the way she said 'take it' in that butch voice, funny stuff. Stuttering Scirvir was a highlight too as he enthusiastically called the keel smasher 'wonderfully useless'.

Finally a really nice thing about the game is the tension and angst it produces, some parts are as freaked out as the best survival horror effort and we haven't had much survival horror lately so it's nice to have a game that incorporates some of those techniques.

Great news about the US release, Atlus once again stepping up to give us some of sony's more eccentric titles. I bet it comes out and no one buys it though, I really hope that's not the case but I've got this awful feeling that's what's going to happen.

[Nic Xtreme]

Yaaaaay! US release! <3

[borgster101]

Going to try this again on the weekend, haven't been able to play anything this week, been too busy with stuff .. so hopefully I can make some progress :p

[borgster101]

WOO I did it! :D Arrow technique worked perfectly!!

[Afrogamer]

Man i really want to get this game, is it worth getting your hands on it?

[borgster101]

If you want a challenge, then yeah it's worth it .. just be prepared to swear .. a lot.

But it's addictive, enjoyable, intense and just a fun game to play :)

[Afrogamer]

Is it all action? Is there armour, weapons/ stuff to collect level ups and things of that sort?

[borgster101]

It's an action RPG .. you collect souls by defeating enemies, these souls are used for everything, from buying new weapons/armour, upgrading your equipment, leveling up your abilities, learning new spells/miracles etc.

It's primarily action based, you need to be careful when you fight, block/dodge, attack .. bosses have a certain weakeness/exploit that you need to figure out, they seem impossible at first, but once you think about it .. you'll succeed.

If you die, you will become a soul yourself, and lose all the souls you earned .. to get the souls back you need to go back to where you died .. which can be difficult as now as a dead soul you have less health, you can only regain your body by defeating the boss or using a rare item. Once you finally get your body back, you're going to be very careful not to stuff it up again, since it'll be a while before you get it again.

It's got an interesting online component, there's messages left by other players all over the place, providing hints/tips on what lies ahead .. these are handy and the only tips in the game at all are from the community itself. You can play online with others as well, which will gain you more souls.

That's an overview, there's probably more info in this thread a few pages back .. and there's some reviews on the net as well, if you want to learn more :)

[Afrogamer]

Thanks dude, im so getting this game now....when i have some cash

[borgster101]

WOO defeated two more bosses .. finally I can progress further!! :D

Got lots of souls and was able to level up a few times and get some more magic! :)